


Day 8

by arianapeterson19



Series: Avengers Shorts [64]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Phil Coulson, BAMF Tony Stark, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Tony, Kidnapping, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:09:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9686243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arianapeterson19/pseuds/arianapeterson19
Summary: Tony decided that torture was not the best way to get information. It was too bad no one asked him.ORThe one where Tony gets hurt but it may not be the worst thing ever.





	1. Hurt

Oddly enough, it was Day 8 of captivity that found Tony trembling and teetering on the edge of a panic attack. Theories have been made and tried when it comes to being stuck in close quarters with anyone but for Tony, that magic number was either 8 or 11 and one of those two days was the day that everything came to a head before falling back into place. Rather like a kettle set to boil, the steam builds until it is forced out of a small opening before being poured out, relieving the pressure. Day 8 was the steam building and trying to force itself out in some way.

Clint and Phil had been calm and acting in a professional manner throughout the entire ordeal but Tony had been handling it in the best way he could – keeping busy and making sarcastic comments. On Day 8, after their captors left when they had completed their daily routine of mild torture, looking for any information they could get. They had given up on Clint and Phil after day 3 when they realized the two agents had been trained in how to survive torture and remain sane. Instead they had turned their focus on Tony, a civilian. Tony had done reasonably well, focusing his mind on equations and lines of code for a new AI to keep the pain at bay but by Day 8 he was mentally and physically exhausted and they had turned to a different technique, moving from general beating to a mix of water torture and burning to bottom of his foot at the same time. The mixed forms combined broke through the mental wall and Tony held on just long enough for the captors to leave before collapsing forward, the only thing keeping him off the ground the ropes around his wrists.

Phil and Clint moved forward from where they had been help at gunpoint. Clint, the stronger of the two, wrapped his arms around Tony’s chest and supported the billionaire, taking the pressure off his wrists while Phil worked on loosening the knots 

“We’ve got you,” said Clint softly. “Just relax as much as you can, don’t struggle. Let Phil and me do the hard work.”

“I’m going to release the bonds now,” said Phil. “Tony, I need you to try not to put any pressure on that foot. I don’t want it to get infected and this floor is disgusting.”

“I’ve got him,” said Clint to Phil, adjusting his hold so that when the ropes were no longer keeping Tony up the genius wouldn’t accidently place his foot on the ground.

With the ease of people who had worked together for years, Phil and Clint got Tony situated on what they had deemed the sleeping section of their prison. The cell itself was like a mix between a cave and a dungeon, as if their captors couldn’t decide which way to go and had settled on both.

“Next time I’m going to attend that Advanced Interrogation seminar,” panted Tony, shaking and trying to ignore the fact that he was about to have a panic attack.

“I’ll train you personally,” said Phil, inspecting the burned right foot. “I won’t let Fury make you sit with all the agents.”

“Good. I hate socializing.”

Clint got Tony out of his soaked shirt and into Clint’s own shirt, the archer well aware that Tony didn’t like water from his past experiences in caves and coupled with how long they had been there, Clint knew they were walking a fine line between a sort of calm Tony and a full on PTSD attack Tony.

“One time I tried to teach Natasha how to do laundry,” said Clint. “It was a horrible idea. I’m pretty sure she shrunk everything on purpose but I can’t prove it. I’m stuck doing laundry on all our missions. It sucks.”

“Oh complain all you want but you know you secretly like folding the clothes,” said Phil, knowing that Clint was trying to distract Tony and jumping on the train. “Do you know Clint actually refolds everything if I try to fold it?”

“Weird,” said Tony, closing his eyes, breathing hard through his nose as Phil did his best to bind his foot. 

“How do you think all of your clothes get folded?” demanded Clint.

“Magic.”

“It bothers Clint on a personal level when he knows your clothes are just sitting in the basket, unfolded and wrinkled,” said Phil. “He sneaks into your room and folds all of them.”

“That’s borderline stalking,” grunted Tony.

“Stalking, crush, same thing,” muttered Clint.

“You can’t say shit like that in front of your boyfriend,” said Tony, leaning himself against the wall, keeping his eyes closed so he missed the exchange of looks between the partners.

“Honey, we’ve sorta been trying to date you for like four months,” said Clint, not unkindly.

“Wait, really?” said Tony, blinking his eyes open, pushing the other cave back to where it lived, in that dark corner of his mind that he never visited if he could help it.

“Yeah,” said Clint. “Bringing you food, coffee, sitting next to you at movie night, taking you on dates. I honestly thought you knew.”

“Now’s not really the time to talk about it,” said Phil. “We’ll talk about it later.”

“Right, because we have such pressing business to attend to now,” snapped Tony. “I mean, I’m pretty booked right now with the whole being kidnapped and such.”

“I guess we could escape,” said Clint with a shrug. “But quite frankly we don’t have a lot to go off of. Also since it’s past the four day mark and neither Phil or I have checked in they’ll be looking for us. It’s just a matter of time.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one getting fucking drowned,” said Tony. It had started off strong but ended in a tiny sob.

Tony bit the inside of his lip, hands clenching and unclenching. Clint curled around Tony.

“Tony, it’s okay,” said Phil. “We’ll get out of this.”

“I can’t do this,” panted Tony.

The door burst open.


	2. The Rest of the Day

Tony didn’t scream but he did cringe away from the door, curling up to make himself a smaller target while hiding behind Clint’s sturdy frame. He was brave but he was also done and unlike his first time in the cave, Tony had people he trusted who were trained to deal with situations like this, so he figured he could afford to be a little scared. Also he had no choice, he was mentally incapable of acting brave when he knew he was about to be tortured again.

“Had a nice holiday, boys?” asked Natasha.

“Tell me you have a jet ready to go home waiting outside,” replied Phil while Clint turned and scooped Tony up.

“I can walk,” gasped Tony, shaking and clutching at Clint’s shoulder.

“Not on that foot,” said Clint softly so only Tony could hear. “It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

“Tony has bruised ribs,” reported Phil as they made their way out, ignoring the bodies that littered the halls, keeping alert to any threat that may have slipped Natasha and the SHEILD team she was working with. “Possible concussion, I want his wrists x-rayed, he was bound multiple times and I’m afraid that may have caused a stress fracture of some sort. His right foot is burned and will need medical attention as soon as possible to avoid infection. Also we need to keep an eye on his lungs, they used water and with his history of chest infections I want to stay on top of it.”

The ride in the jet back to the Tower was short and Tony spent most of it passed out – aided by both exhaustion and pain medication while the medical team worked on his injuries under the watchful eyes of Natasha, Clint, and Phil. Phil had Tony moved to the spare room on the floor he shared with Clint, the room most often used for any Avenger recovering from an injury. It had started as a bit of a joke, with Phil being such a mother hen when anyone was hurt that they started using the room on the floor, claiming it was easier for Phil to check on them. After a while, it sort of became a thing.

\- Day 8 –

Waking came slowly but Tony found it enjoyable. He was warm and content and without opening his eyes he knew that Clint was sitting on the foot of the bed keeping watch. It should have been creepy – watching people while they sleep is a bit unnerving – but it merely sent shivers of something akin to joy down his spine.

“You’re approaching Edward Cullen levels of obsession,” yawned Tony, blinking his eyes open. “If you take three hours to kiss me like he did I swear I’ll punch you in the face.”

“There will be no kissing for a while,” said Clint with a grin, leaning over and helping Tony into a sitting position. “Besides, Phil called dibs on the first kiss.”

Tony blinked owlishly, caught off guard and still a little muddled from the pain medicine that was mostly worn off.

“I’m really sorry, I wasn’t aware that you two were trying to date me,” said Tony, cringing at his own honesty, wishing he wasn’t an honest drunk (or honest when high on pain killers). “Can we try the whole dating thing now that I know? And maybe in the future you just tell me things instead of trying to be subtle? Because I’m not really good subtlety.”

“Yeah, I kinda picked up on that,” said Clint with a chuckle.

The archer shifted and sat next to Tony, legs out on top of the blanket. 

“So is this the part there we hold hands and shit?” said Tony, clearly uncertain on how to be proceeding with everything.

“No,” chuckled Clint with a fond smile. “Tony, we just got done being held captive. You were tortured. We’re not doing the dating thing until you’re better. Actually, let me rephrase. We are not doing the more physical side of dating until you’re no longer high on pain killers.”

Tony nodded, his head still fuzzy on what exactly was going on. They sat there for two hours, silent. With the medicine almost out of his system, the panic and pain were creeping back in equal parts. The genius didn’t realize his breathing was picking back up until Clint moved into his space. The archer slipped in behind Tony, slowly pulling the genius back to rest against his chest, one of Clint’s hands resting on Tony’s chest to feel his heartbeat, his other hand coming up and resting lightly on the side of Tony’s neck, monitoring his heartbeat, making sure not to restrain Tony’s hands in any way.

“Alright, it’s okay,” said Clint softly. “It’s all over. You’re safe, I’m here. I’m right here. You’re in the Tower and I’m right here. I’ve got you.”

For 15 minutes Clint repeated variations of those words, allowing Tony to follow his voice back to reality. Reality filtered back into Tony’s brain it shards. Tony tried to focus on the sensation of callused fingers resting against his neck and another couple of fingers tapping out a phrase in Morse Code. Words were being said but the tapping was what Tony focused on. He liked the tapping, he tapped when he thought. It was a small release of energy, a way to focus his brain because his body had an outlet for its energy. The tapping in this case was grounding.

“Are you tapping out the lyrics to “Be a Man” from Mulan?” asked Tony, still shuddering.

“No,” said Clint, his voice still soft near Tony’s right ear. “I’m tapping out the entire movie line for line, you just started paying attention when I hit that song.”

Tony chuckled weakly, letting his head fall back to rest against Clint’s shoulder, revealing a line a neck. 

“How are you feeling, Tony?” asked Phil, entering the room, carrying a tray of food that would feed a small army or a very hungry archer, mildly hungry agent, and not hungry but forced to eat genius.

“Tired,” said Tony.

Phil looked at Clint, searching for more information. Clint raised an eyebrow and nodded down at the genius still resting against him. Phil set the tray down and sat on the edge of the bed. Tony didn’t seem to want to move out of Clint’s hold and the archer didn’t seem inclined to make him. Phil let a soft smile show as he stared fondly at the pair of men. This was what he had desired for months. Phil was the type of person who enjoyed taking care of others and while Clint needed his care Clint also wanted to be the one to provide care. Finally it looked like they would have someone to release their caring natures on, because while Tony provided for everyone he loved, it was in an entirely different way and the genius would have two people in his corner at last to look out for him in an entirely new way.

“Think you could eat anything?” asked Phil.

Tony eyed the food with misgiving; he was hungry but his stomach rolled at the idea of food. He knew that he should eat – it had been a long time since his last real meal – but he also didn’t want to throw up on the two men he was possibly pursuing a relationship with. That would be mortifying and then Tony would have to move to another planet.

“Try the smoothie,” suggested Clint. “It’s not heavy and should sit easily in your stomach.”

With a soft sigh, Tony took the cup with the lid and straw, trying to ignore the way his wrist and hand throbbed in the black brace. His left hand and arm were wrapped in a cast, having been more seriously broken at some point – Tony couldn’t remember when that happened. The smoothie was actually delicious, the cool substance soothing Tony’s still sore throat. Tony took two more tentative sips before setting it down to let that little bit settle in his stomach before pursuing more.

“You should get some rest,” said Phil while he ate a grilled cheese sandwich. 

“No thanks,” said Tony, shuddering at the idea of the nightmares he knew were awaiting him in his sleep. “I’d rather talk about this whole relationship thing.”

“He’s rather fixated on it,” said Clint helpfully.

“Okay,” said Phil, knowing that Tony was just trying to postpone the inevitable and willing to play along for a time. “What exactly do you want to know?”

“How is this going to work?” asked Tony.

“It’s going to take a lot of work,” said Phil with a smile. “Communication is key. We should have told you before about our interest but we didn’t know how and honestly I thought you knew. So that was on us but we’re going to learn from that and fix it. Talking is essential though. I know that I want a long term relationship, not a fling.”

“Same,” said Clint. “So get that out of your head right now.”

“Get what out of my head?” asked Tony, nose scrunching adorably.

“That thought that we just want a quick fuck and then we’ll dump your ass because that’s not the case,” said Clint bluntly, squeezing Tony just enough to let the genius know he was serious but not enough to bother Tony’s sore ribs.

“I’m not good at relationships,” said Tony.

“Not true,” said Phil immediately. He was going to put an end to that self doubt as quickly as he could. “You’re incredible at relationships. You have managed to draw enough people into your world that care the world for you and have become a family to you. Colonel Rhodes is the first person to prove that to be true. He personally vets every person who seems like they will be a part of your life for any amount of time. You have fantastic friends, family. You’ve had a rough run with romantic relationship but that doesn’t mean you’re bad at them, it means they didn’t work out.”

“So who says this will work out?”

“There’s no promise that it will,” said Clint. “You willing to try regardless?”

Tony thought about it. It was an awfully large risk to take, dating his two best friends and teammates. But he would also be dating his two best friends, which would be fantastic. He had never tried dating his best friends before – Rhodey was like a brother and Pepper didn’t count, their relationship was more complicated. 

“Okay,” said Tony softly, as though he was afraid that if he spoke too loud it would break the world. 

“Perfect,” said Phil. “Now will you please get some rest?”

“No,” said Tony, even as his eyes closed.

“Movie it is,” said Clint softly while JARVIS started a romantic comedy quietly in the background.

Phil moved so he was sitting against the headboard with Clint, Tony still resting against Clint’s chest. It was comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should have had this out ages ago, sorry!
> 
> Always,  
> Ari

**Author's Note:**

> It was going to be a one shot. Now it's not.
> 
> Always,  
> Ari


End file.
